Doctor Aphra #5

It’s Wednesday once again, my friends, and that means comic book day! (Well, technically that’s true, but for me and this site, it’s not always comic book day since some Wednesdays do go by, regrettably, with no new Star Wars comics.) This week, in honor of #InternationalWomensDay – unintentional as it may be – we get the next installment of the great adventures of Miss Aphra! Based on where we left last time, this is sure to be an incredibly interesting picture book, so instead of me rambling on about this or that let’s just get to it, shall we?

Doctor Aphra #5So, even though the Empire was headed for a jungle world, they still had Snowtrooper gear and cold-weather coats for officers handy, just in case…that’s either impressive forethought or units are just always prepared for all outcomes…anyway, Aphra & Co. are checking out old, dead Jedi and the Empire is upon them, but before they catch up completely, we find out that the dead Jedi aren’t Ordu, but “Orthodox Jedi.” So now, instead of having Jedi as one part of an ever-growing group of Force traditions, we know definitively that there were separate sects among them…is that how the Sith started as well? Are we going to find that the Ordu are actually what turned into the Sith? Are there other sects of Jedi as well that we don’t yet know about? This is all very intriguing stuff that may also tie into who, or what, Snoke is and where he fits into this new broad spectrum of the Force…curiouser and curiouser…back to the story, while papa Aphra is taking pains to show some reverence to the deceased Jedi, miss Aphra is rifling through their things and snatching up their lightsabers for sale on the black market. Of course papa Aphra disapproves, but is given this fantastic rebuttal: “Archaeology is just grave robbing with fancy paperwork.” (Reminds me of the whole “slavery with extra steps” bit from Rick and Morty in “The Ricks Must Be Crazy” – seriously, if you’re not already, watch that show.) Moving on, they find a big door that’s marked “Immortal Rur,” who was the main player in the many stories of the Ordu Aspectu back in issue #2, and then the generator to get it open. At this point, the droids have a throw-away back-and-forth about how the floor is littered with crystal fragments…it doesn’t come up again, but I have a feeling it will…next, our heroes turn on said generator by using one of the crystals they have that turned on the beam-thing on Yavin; unfortunately, we find out they only have one on account of how quickly they had to flee, so Miss Aphra sends the droids to the ship to get a crystal modulator while the three humanoids go back to the door that now has a fancy holoimage of Rur displayed in front of it. In no time Miss Aphra has the remaining group through the door to a very duel of fates-esque room with several elaborate walkways and a large cylinder in the center. Here we jump to the droids who manage to duck out of the way just in time to not be seen by the incoming Imperials…but for whatever reason they decide not to say anything until they’re back at the ship…of course this means that the Imperials get the drop of the humanoids and, as usual, Krrsantan fends them off while the Aphras do whatever – in this case, it’s use a rad force bridge to get to the center spire. Meanwhile, Krrsantan’s way out gunned and out of room to maneuver, so he plays possum of sorts by hiding below the walkway until the Imperials take him for dead and go by and then he walks right out the door…and then takes the ship and, presumably, the droids and leaves, stranding the Aphras, should they manage to survive…it’s a harsh move, but I back my Wookiee friend here; I think he made the right move…so, with the Imperials firing on them and very little hope of survival, Miss Aphra decides to shoot uh, something (for the life of me, I can’t make out what she shoots – my best guess is it’s the console on their side of the bridge) that makes the bridge disappears under some troopers, sending them to their vacuum of space deaths, and causes the center spire to shut with the Aphras having run inside it. There’s a weird green glow about the place (Nightsisters anyone?), and they take an elevator up to find a very dead “Immortal Rur” by a center console with a great many crystals arranged on it. The Aphras have a nice little heart-to-heart about the past and how papa Aphra and Lona, Miss Aphra’s mom, were both trying hard to do what was best for their daughter, but were just too stubborn to come to any sort of agreement on what that was, so they ended up becoming horrible parents (but, hey, so are just about all parents in a galaxy far, far away…as far as that goes, they’re actually pretty average)…papa Aphra also lets on that there’s a simple way for Miss Aphra to be Doctor Aphra again, but Miss Aphra doesn’t let him tell her for fear that she might 86 him if she was in a bind and technically didn’t need him anymore…that father/daughter bond, though…so then Miss Aphra gives her dad a crystal she found on Rur when they first came in the room and says she kept it from him because “we don’t talk enough.” Pretty sneaky move, Miss Aphra, pretty sneaky…when papa Aphra kllks the crystal in place, a green glowing abstract face appears and asks “when is this?” We then find out that this entity is, in fact, Rur, who says the body of the body on the floor: “That shell is the false Rur.” He then proclaims himself “Eternal Rur” (which is funny because that’s what Miss Aphra said the door translated to, but her father corrected her to “Immortal Rur”) as the a couple droids that look kinda like Blitzcrank from League of Legends come to life…and of course that’s the end of the book…exciting, right? To top it off, the “next issue” picture shows a mechanical hand (very humanoid, not like the bulky hands of the droids coming to life) holding a lightsaber…issue #6 is going to be lights out, I can just feel it…

So, what’d you think?!?! Pretty great series so far, right? I really hope they don’t lose their momentum during the upcoming crossover…I have high hopes for it, but it could also turn out to be a dud like the current Yoda arc…anyway, what do you make of Rur? What is this Force/technology hybridization? I mean, it’s not like we haven’t seen it before…lightsabers, right? You never really think of them that way, but they’re Force technology…holocrons too…do you think this “Eternal Rur” programmed himself into all the technology of his base with holocron-like technology? Or is this something else? Maybe something akin to Nightsister magic? Whatever it is, I can’t wait to find out! So, give the book a thorough second read and let me know what you think in the comments…rig up some kind of Force technology that makes Rur come out of the dash of your car every time you start it…until next time, TWS out.

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